Lemony Broccoli Apple Raisin Salad

This shredded broccoli salad is filled with raisins and apples for a new, flavorful way to eat your broccoli!

It’s Wednesday! Which of course means some WIAW action. In case you’re new around here, (and I believe there are quite a few of you. Hi!) What I Ate Wednesday is a glimpse into a day of my meals. As much as it may seem like I live off pumpkin cookies, pumpkin brownies and dough balls, I really do eat other things too. And of course we have to thank Jenn for throwing this party to begin with. Send her some internet love today, she’s finally supposed to be getting internet installed in her new house after what seems like forever without it! Damn hurricanes.

So without further ado, I give you breakfast.

Oatmeal with a peach + sunflower seed butter. Yeah, the same stuff I said I can’t stand plain. I didn’t change my mind or anything, I still can’t stand it but I’m desperately trying to get rid of the jar. Mixed in with oats it’s not as bad. Unfortunately, this peach was not juicy at all. I guess there was a reason they were 79 cents/lb this week.

Come lunchtime, I was inspired by Angela’s post yesterday where she used Whole Food’s detox salad as inspiration to create her own and I figured I could do something similar with what I had on hand. Plus, I was really sick of the leftovers I’d been eating for the past 2 lunches.

We eat a ton of broccoli in this house. Like 4-5 crowns of it a week. It’s easy and when you’re usually trying to fit a workout in after work, it’s hardly a vegetable that takes much time to prepare. But, steaming and roasting was getting old. This might be my new favorite way to eat it.

Shredded.

In the same amount of time it takes to steam broccoli, I had this whole salad prepared. Personally, I hate raw broccoli. I always avoid it on those raw veggie trays and pick out all the tomatoes and carrots instead. But, all chopped up like this, it barely tastes raw. With the combo of apples + raisins for sweetness and the lemon dressing for some acidity, this was actually a perfect balance of flavors.

Served on the side for lunch with a cheese quesadilla, vanilla yogurt and a peach that I actually didn’t end up eating. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach. This happens almost everyday where I grab more than I can eat.

During my workout, (NROLFW 3A) all I could think about was food. Hunger came out of nowhere so stretching + eating at the same time ensued. Ginger was showing me how well she can stretch too when there are pita chips + hummus on the floor.

I gave her a little pita chip, shhhhh.

Oh, and there was a beer involved. Nothing like rehydrating with a cold beer after a workout!

Dinner: ready for some nastiness?

That my friends, would be a frozen chicken enchilada from Trader Joe’s that has been in my freezer for almost a year. Want to know what’s even scarier? There was no expiration date on the package. I <3 most of TJ’s frozen meals but, I just can’t recommend this one. I had actually bought two of these awhile back, ate one and hated it so the other sat in the freezer. Until last night. It had to be done. I wanted it out of my life so I took one for the team and ate it. It’s pretty much just a spicy mess without any real flavor. The ingredient list is less than stellar and the sauce was disgusting. It’s over, I’m moving on.

Everything can be fixed with a brownie though. Especially, a pumpkin brownie + ice cream.

Do you feed your pet human food? We seldom ever feed Ginger directly. If she gets human food it goes in her food dish first. Of course, my parents ruin this completely when she’s at her house. It’s our payback for not providing any grandchildren, they instead spoil our dog.

At least your lunch and dessert were delicious to make up for a sub par dinner. I love your beer koozie. They make drinking so much more fun. I recently bought a Woozie… a koozie for a wine glass. Its so classy and fun:)

I’ve always thought about getting that enchilda, but now I’ll know to stay away from it. It’s too bad since most everything from TJ’s is stellar.

Love the idea of the salad. I’m also not crazy about broccoli raw (plus the little buds always get stuck in my teeth), but this is something I would definitely try. Pairing apples with broccoli? Genius!

I ate expired, pre-cooked chicken breast. It had been expired for 8 days and I didn’t know- I was starving when I came home and just had some! Now I’m freaking out about it, and would love to know if I should be more worried about it- as in seeking medical advice.

Yeah, I totally understand… bad meals really suck. But throwing away food always makes me feel guilty for wasting it :-(
On a lighter note, I love broccoli and this looks like a great way to eat it! :D

I made the broccoli salad for a side dish, but ended up just eating it for a late lunch. Nom nom!
My dog used to go nuts for popcorn. She was a tiny mild-mannered shihtzu and would bark at me until I hurled a handful her way.

This recipe looks delicious! I’m planning to make it along with your tofu fried rice. One problem: I’m not really a fan of lemon (or raisins). Do you have any other suggestions for a dressing? How do you think it would taste with a tiny bit of maple syrup and/or soy sauce?

You could substitute any dried fruit for the raisins. They were good because they added some sweetness to it. I think dried cherries would be delicious if you like those. I’d probably go the maple syrup route rather than the soy sauce route on the salad. Let me know how it turns out if you do that!

Hi, so sorry to be off topic, but what kind of camera are you using to take such beautiful pictures? I, too, am sorry you had to endure the enchiladas. Looks like instant acid indigestion to me. I love making broccoli salad, though, and I experiment with different kinds all of the time. Oftentimes, I even substitute craisins for the raisins (just for a little bit of a different flavor) and it’s wonderful. Oh, and your dog is too cute! :)

Thank you so much for responding! I was so embarrassed when I realized this blog was from last October, so I really appreciate the prompt reply. And I’m so sorry, I misspelled “marketside” lol. Walmart carries it in the refridgerated section beside the packages of salad.

[…] by no means am I saying I’m the best. That’s laughable. But if you want to see progress look at this post (please ignore my excessive use of emoticons, apparently I love a good wink face) and then this […]

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